Jo-Anne McArthur facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jo-Anne McArthur
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Canadian Photojournalist Jo-Anne McArthur. Photo Credit - Josée Van Wissen
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| Born | December 23, 1976 |
| Occupation | Photojournalist, animal advocate, author |
| Known for | We Animals We Animals Media Unbound Project The Ghosts in Our Machine |
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Notable work
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We Animals (2014)
Captive (2017) HIDDEN: Animals in the Anthropocene (2020) |
Jo-Anne McArthur (born December 23, 1976) is a Canadian photographer, teacher, and author. She uses her camera to help animals. She is famous for her We Animals project. This project uses photos to show how humans and animals live together.
Through her We Animals Humane Education program, Jo-Anne teaches people about animals. She also shares her photos through We Animals Media. This helps others who work for animal protection. Jo-Anne was the main person in the 2013 movie The Ghosts in Our Machine. With Keri Cronin, she started the Unbound Project. This project celebrates women who help animals. Jo-Anne has written three books: We Animals (2013), Captive (2017), and Hidden: Animals in the Anthropocene (2020). She has won many awards for her photos and her work to help animals.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Jo-Anne McArthur grew up in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. She studied Geography and English at the University of Ottawa. She decided to become a photographer after taking a class on black-and-white photography.
Jo-Anne's Career
At first, Jo-Anne took photos for art. But soon, she saw her camera as a "tool for creating change." She started by photographing animals on the street. Now, she often photographs animals that are kept in captivity. Sometimes, she works undercover to get these photos.
Her photos have been shown in many places. These include The Guardian newspaper and National Geographic magazine. Her pictures have also been used by over 100 groups that help animals. They are also used in school studies about how humans and animals interact.
Awards and Recognition
Jo-Anne McArthur has received many awards for her work. She was in the top 50 of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Champions of Change contest. She also won the 2014 Media Award from the Institute for Critical Animal Studies.
In 2018, Jo-Anne won the People's Choice award for Wildlife Photographer of the Year. Her winning photo showed Pikin, a lowland gorilla. Pikin was rescued from poachers by Ape Action Africa. The photo showed Pikin being held by a carer named Appolinaire Ndohoudou. They were moving Pikin between two safe places in Cameroon. Jo-Anne was very happy that her photo touched so many people. She hoped it would make everyone care more about animals.
For the same photo, she also won a Special Award from The Alfred Fried Photography Award in 2018. The judges said her photo showed that animals have feelings. They said it showed that animals can feel safe and loved.
In 2019, another of her photos was highly praised in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest. This photo was called "The Wall of Shame." It showed rattlesnake skins with bloody handprints. These were from a rattlesnake round-up in Sweetwater, Texas.
In 2020, her photo "Hope in a Burned Forest" won a category in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year. It showed a eastern grey kangaroo and her baby in a burned forest. This was near Mallacoota, Victoria, after the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season. This photo also won the Grand Prize in the 2021 BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition.
Jo-Anne also won the COP26 photography competition. She won for a photo of a mother pig and her piglet on a large pig farm in Italy. Another of her photos, showing a chimp named Ron, also won an award. Ron was once used for research.
In 2021, Jo-Anne was a judge for the "Nature" category in the World Press Photo contest.
We Animals Project
Jo-Anne started the We Animals project around 1998. This happened after she saw a monkey chained to a window in Ecuador. She was shocked and took a picture of the monkey. She wanted to share how she saw humans treating animals.
The We Animals project takes photos of animals in human environments. It shows that humans are also animals. It tries to break down the idea that we can treat non-human animals like objects. The goal is to show how we interact with animals every day. It makes people think differently about these common situations.
In December 2013, Jo-Anne published her first book, We Animals. It has over 100 of her photos and some text. Bruce Friedrich, an animal activist, called it a "gorgeous book." He said it showed both sadness and hope. In The Guardian, Ziya Tong said the book helps people see the world differently. She said Jo-Anne shows the sad truth of many animals living in captivity.
Since 2008, Jo-Anne has given talks at schools and universities. In 2014, she received money to create the We Animals Humane Education project. This program helps people learn about animals. It wants to make people feel wonder and curiosity about animals. It also teaches respect and responsibility. The program hopes to inspire kindness towards animals. It wants to encourage people to make positive changes.
In 2017, Jo-Anne started the We Animals Archive. This is a collection of thousands of photos and videos. They show animals in places where humans are in charge. The Archive allows people and groups working to protect animals to use these photos for free. Later, the Archive became part of We Animals Media.
We Animals Media
In 2019, We Animals Media (WAM) was launched. It is a media group that focuses on stories about how animals are used by humans. Jo-Anne McArthur is the founder and director. WAM has many other photographers and writers.
WAM offers thousands of photos and videos. These can be used for free by people and groups who help animals. Many of these images were taken by Jo-Anne herself. The Walrus magazine said WAM might be the biggest collection of such images in the world. Jo-Anne hopes that one day, there will be no more need for the archive. She hopes it will become a historical record of a past that should never happen again.
Captive Book
Jo-Anne published her second book, Captive, in 2017. This book focuses on animals living in zoos and aquariums. It also includes short essays written by Jo-Anne. The book shows the physical conditions of animals in captivity. Photos from the book were also shown at Toronto's Harbourfront Centre in 2017.
Hidden: Animals in the Anthropocene Book
Jo-Anne's third book is called Hidden: Animals in the Anthropocene. She wrote it with journalist Keith Wilson. This book is about how humans and non-human animals are in conflict around the world. It uses photos from thirty award-winning photojournalists. The famous actor Joaquin Phoenix wrote the introduction. The book came out in 2020.
Olivia Wilson wrote in The Guardian that the book shows what happens in large factory farms and slaughterhouses. She said it reveals how little we know about what goes on inside these places.
Jo-Anne was inspired by a photo book called Inferno by James Nachtwey. That book showed "what we do to each other." Jo-Anne felt that animals needed a similar book. She knew that many photographers were showing the "invisible war" on animals. She believed they could create something important and historic together.
Hidden: Animals in the Anthropocene won the 2021 Independent Publisher Book Award for the book "Most Likely to Save the Planet." It also won the "Photography Book of the Year" award in 2021. The book's photos were shown at the Natural History Museum in London and other places.
Unbound Project
Jo-Anne McArthur and Keri Cronin started the Unbound Project. Keri Cronin is a professor of art history. The Unbound Project is a book and multimedia project. Its goal is to celebrate women who are leaders in helping animals. It looks at both modern and historical women. The project hopes to inspire people to make the world a kinder place for all living things.
Some of the modern women featured include Anita Krajnc and Carol J. Adams. Historical women include Louisa May Alcott and Anna Laetitia Barbauld.
The Ghosts in Our Machine Film
Jo-Anne McArthur was the main human subject in the 2013 documentary film The Ghosts in Our Machine. The film was directed by Liz Marshall. This movie is different from many animal rights films. It does not use shocking images. Instead, it makes you think about suffering and the connection between humans and other animals.
A film critic named Peter Debruge said the movie makes you feel sad for Jo-Anne. He said she feels so deeply for animals that she carries their suffering with her every day.
See also
- List of animal rights advocates
